 Taking away an individual's guns is always a touchy subject, but San Francisco and Oakland may have finally found the right way to do it: a program that pays individuals to turn over their guns without force or coercion. Though limited to residents of the city, the program aims to simultaneously reduce the number of weapons on the street and give impoverished families a little extra to spend for the holidays.
Even as police were trumpeting a new program to buy back weapons on Saturday, a man was killed in East Oakland, a grim reminder of just how badly Oakland needs to get guns off the streets.
The killing of a man was the city's 122nd homicide this year. It happened at 3:30 p.m. at 83rd Avenue and D Street, just as police brass and leaders from community organizations on both sides of the bay were holding a news conference to promote an anonymous gun buyback program Saturday in Oakland and San Francisco.
"How many times have we heard, 'there's too many guns, there's too many guns,'" said Joe Marshall, the executive director of the Omega Boy's Club in San Francisco. "This is a chance to get some of those weapons off the street."
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